Mohegan Sun says it plans to ask for a recount after voters in Palmer narrowly rejected its plan for a $1 billion resort casino and entertainment complex in the central Massachusetts town.
The town clerk says the proposal lost by 93 of the 5,200 total votes cast on Tuesday.
Residents said they're concerned a casino would hurt the local economy.
"This is our slow season," said Casey Roark, who manages a Subway restaurant in the area. "And the casino attracts things during our slow season, so if that was gone, we'd be really slow and things would really go down."
In a statement, Mohegan Sun said it would request a hand recount because of what it called "very troubling" technical problems with a voting machine in one of the town's precincts.
If the vote stands, it would deal a crushing blow to the Connecticut casino operator's hopes of applying to the state's gambling commission for the sole western Massachusetts casino license allowed under the state's 2011 gambling law.
Opponents of the casino said it would destroy the town's rural character.
